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Science: Health: Ear: Hearing Aid
Switched Frequency Hearing Aid   (+8)  [vote for, against]
Redirect unheard frequencies to available ones for better understanding of speech

Some of my hearing has gone, I'm 45, so no big surprise.

Over the years, I have thought about what it would take to be able to properly hear again. An idea I had that I haven't seen in my limited searching would work as follows:

First, most speech is understood in certain frequency ranges, defined in the upper harmonics. These are the frequencies that are lost as hearing degrades.

What if you had a system that analyzed hearing loss, and redirected lost frequencies to frequencies that were still available? Either neighboring frequencies, or lower frequencies that normally would share a harmonic with the lost frequency? Wouldn't that create a better hearing result, allowing for some kind of improvement in speech decoding?
-- simpleknight, Feb 18 2016

Some deep voices http://www.behindth...oiced-voice-actors/
It seems to me that if one can understand a deep voice, then a converted high voice should be understandable, too. [Vernon, Feb 18 2016]

Summary of Research / products since the 60's and 70's https://www.phonakp...ues_for_fitting.pdf
[scad mientist, Feb 18 2016]

Widex https://www.widexac...tion_DeafEduInt.pdf
[scad mientist, Feb 18 2016]

// Some of my hearing has gone //

Check under the back seat of your car - it's amazing what can end up there.

[+] for the idea. It would sound weird at first, but humans are very adaptable.
-- 8th of 7, Feb 18 2016


One of my lost romantic interests was partly caused by a frequency hole in my hearing ( due to Machine shop noise ) and her voice being pitched right at that same frequency.

I would buy such a hearing aide in a heartbeat.

What was her name ? e? e something. ?
-- popbottle, Feb 18 2016


I think it somewhat already exist in some hearing aids.

The feature would be called "frequency compression"
-- mofosyne, Feb 18 2016


Sounds like a great idea. Apparently people have been studying it for a long time (see link). I looked into Widex in a little more detail and it sounds very similar to what you propose. One question I had with yours is how awful music might sound. Widex deals with that by always shifting sounds in increments of octaves.
-- scad mientist, Feb 18 2016


Re: Widex results

I think that does prove the concept should work, but their target audience is a little different than what I envision.

For that study, it seems they took a whole bank of frequencies and moved them down, which is appropriate for people who would normally wear a hearing aid as a young person.

My concept would be different in this way: individual frequencies would be identified per person, and only those frequencies would be shifted.

I think this is an important distinction, as hearing loss for most of the population as we age is a frequency here and there, rather than a whole section of hearing frequency. It seems to me that it would be jarring and confusing to have some frequencies that one could hear mapped to others in a lower register.

Instead, by only remapping required frequencies, the alterations could be more adaptable.

Of course, this would mean periodic updates as additional frequencies were lost due to continued aging.
-- simpleknight, Feb 18 2016


Regarding music: yeah, that is a challenge, but if the frequencies selected were harmonics (of which the octave is one), that might allow for that to be okay. But you're right - it would be a consideration for quality of life, and since I'm a singer, I wouldn't want to always be flat or sharp because of a hearing aid.

Which brings up a different idea: what if you could use this kind of tech to make someone always be on pitch?
-- simpleknight, Feb 18 2016


//One of my lost romantic interests was partly caused by a frequency hole in my hearing ( due to Machine shop noise ) and her voice being pitched right at that same frequency. //

Ooooh, that inspires a modification - selective frequency sensetivity of the hearing aid. You know, in case you want to be able to filter out certain frequency ranges as well.....
-- Custardguts, Feb 18 2016



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